Beyond origins : rethinking founding in a time of constitutional democracy

289 Pages·2017·2.419 MB·English

by  Angélica Maria Bernal

i
Beyond Origins
ii
iii
Beyond Origins
Rethinking Founding in a Time
of Constitutional Democracy
Angélica Maria Bernal
1
iv
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Oxford University Press 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Maria Bernal, Angélica, author.
Title: Beyond origins : rethinking founding in a time of
constitutional democracy / Angélica Maria Bernal.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016052394| ISBN 9780190494223 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780190685638 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Constitutional history. | Democracy. | Comparative government.
Classification: LCC JF51 .R427 2017 | DDC 321.8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016052394
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
v
For Toby, Bodhi, and Sirinan
vi
vii
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
PART ONE: Foundings and Foundationalism
1. Foundational Invocations: Democratic Politics and the Problem of
Original Authority 25
2. A Good and Perfect Beginning: Plato’s Laws and the Problem
of the Lawgiver and the People 52
3. A Tale of Two Democratic Foundings: The United States, Haiti,
and the Problem of Democratic Self- Constitution 75
PART TWO: Founding Beyond Origins
4. Foundings, Origins, and Repetition: Livy’s Roman Foundings
Reconsidered 107
5. The Promise and Perils of Presidential Refounding
in Latin America 132
6. The Regenerative Founding: Jefferson, the French Revolution, and
Democratic Self- Constitution 159
7. Another Birth of Freedom: Méndez and the Constituent Power
of the Excluded 193
Conclusion 223
Notes 235
Index 267
viii
ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book bears the trace of the myriad acts of support and kindness of
many people. Writing a first book is always a challenge, but the distinctive
ones that my family and I have faced the past few years, made it at times
seem like this book might be an impossible feat. It is with the pleasure of
a finished product that I now express my gratitude for everyone who made
this possible.
I want to begin by thanking my dissertation committee: Seyla Benhabib,
Bruce Ackerman, and Paulina Ochoa Espejo. Seyla was an unparalleled
advisor and mentor, allowing me the freedom to explore a canonical subject
in an idiosyncratic way and helping to challenge and shape its early ideas.
I am grateful to her for continued support, warmth, and commitment to
my success. Bruce Ackerman’s constitutional theory and his work on the
US Founding were an influence and foil for this project, and I sincerely
appreciate his generosity of time and spirit in engaging with my ideas and
my early interpretations and critiques of his work. Paulina Ochoa Espejo
has been a model interlocutor and friend. Her brilliant work on popular
sovereignty has been deeply influential on my own. I am grateful for her
sharp insights, careful readings of this work at most every stage, and for
her unwavering belief in the project and in me as a scholar. When putting
words to paper felt most difficult, it was her constant input and supportive
words that were most crucial in helping me to turn this project into a viable
book manuscript.
This book might not have been possible if not for the nurturing grounds
in which it took root at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I have
greatly benefitted from the distinctive intellectual environment created in
our department encouraging inter and intra- disciplinary work. As a junior
scholar, I am especially grateful for the intellectual support and input on the
book manuscript from our senior political theorists: Nick Xenos, Roberto
Alejandro, and Barbara Cruikshank. Thanks also to Barbara Cruikshank for